NITRO BLAST (October 20, 1944)
During the Allied assault on the Scheldt Estuary (Operation Switchback) the British 248 Armoured Assault Squadron of the Royal Engineers took up position in a field near the village of Ijzendijke. No. 3 troop was assigned the task of operating a mine-clearing device known as a Condor, a 300 foot length of canvas hose launched empty across a minefield and then pumped full of liquid nitro-glycerine which was then detonated, clearing a wide path through the minefield. While unloading the nitro-glycerine from three Canadian lorries, a tremendous explosion rocked the area sending shock waves that flattened everything in its path. Trees, farm buildings and military vehicles were set on fire or completely wrecked by the blast. The three lorries carrying the glycerine simply disappeared leaving three large craters on the site. This accidental explosion, the largest in North-west Europe during WW11, took the lives of 26 British and 15 Canadian soldiers and wounding 43 others. Fifty-three years later, in 1997, a memorial was unveiled on the site commemorating the victims. The ceremony was attended by over a hundred British and Canadian veterans.
Lesser Known Facts of WWII 1944, 1945